The positive role of teachers’ social–emotional competence in burnout: the mediating effects of teaching efficacy

Background: Teachers are a high-risk group for job burnout, and alleviating this issue is increasingly urgent. Teachers' social-emotional competence is closely associated with alleviating occupational burnout and plays a pivotal role in professional development. Consequently, identifying effective methods to reduce teacher burnout has become a central concern in educational science, psychology, and teacher professional development. Methods: Grounded in the Job Demands-Resources framework, this study developed and tested a mediation model using survey data from 924 Chinese elementary and secondary school teachers. This study delves into the positive role of social-emotional competence in mitigating teacher burnout and elucidates its underlying mechanisms of influence. Results: Teachers' social-emotional competence and teaching efficacy negatively predicts teacher burnout. Meanwhile, teaching efficacy mediates the relationship between social-emotional competence and teacher burnout. Conclusion: Teachers' social-emotional competence and teaching efficacy, as crucial individual resources, can mitigate teachers' occupational burnout through dual pathways: "social-emotional competence, occupational burnout" and "social-emotional competence, teaching efficacy, occupational burnout". This study provides both theoretical insights and practical implications for reducing teachers' occupational burnout by strengthening teachers' social-emotional competence and teaching efficacy.